This invention pertains to a revetment, which is made wholly or predominantly from concrete and which is useful to line a stream bed, and to an assembly of said revetments. Such a revetment can be also used to line an embankment or to line a driveway for emergency vehicles.
As exemplified in older patents including U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,628 and in newer patents including U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,222, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,571, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,391, assemblies of predominantly concrete revetments are employed to line embankments, stream beds, and driveways for emergency vehicles. A reinforced plastic revetment of related interest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 929,728.
As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,628 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,391, cables are employed to connect the respective revetments of such an assembly to one another, whereby the assembly is articulated. As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,222 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,571, a polymeric grid is employed to connect the respective revetments of such an assembly to one another, whereby the assembly is articulated.
As exemplified in older patents including U.S. Pat. No. 1,164,707 and French Patent No. 1,265,140 and in newer patents including U.S Pat. Nos. 3,903,702, 4,661,012, 5,484,230, 5,779,391, 5,906,456, and 6,071,041, it is known for such a revetment to have marginal projections, which interfit with marginal recesses in adjacent, similar revetments. A revetment of related interest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,792. As disclosed therein, the revetment has projecting spacers that abut or interlock with projecting spacers on an adjacent, similar revetment.
According to a first aspect of this invention, a revetment is provided, which is made wholly or predominantly from concrete, which is useful to line a stream bed, and which has an upper surface, a lower surface, upstream and downstream edges, and, for each upstream edge, an upstream bevel, which intersects the upper surface and which intersects said upstream edge. Preferably, the revetment has two downstream edges, two upstream edges, and two upstream bevels.
According to a second aspect of this invention, a revetment is provided, as described above, which has an array of holes extending between the upper and lower surfaces. Each hole has a lateral wall having a portion flaring outwardly in a downstream direction from a circular mouth at the lower surface to an elongate mouth at the upper surface.
According to a third aspect of this invention, a revetment is provided, as described above, in which each upstream or downstream edge is stepped so as to define an upper or lower flange.
The first, second, and third aspects of this invention can be advantageously combinedEach of the downstream edges is stepped so as to define an upper flange and each of the upstream edges is stepped so as to define a lower flange Each of the upstream bevels intersects the upper surface and intersects a respective one of the upstream edges. Each hole has a circular mouth at the lower wall and has a lateral wall flaring outwardly in a downstream direction to an elongate mouth at the upper wall.
In an assembly of revetments, which may be connected to one another, as by cables, each of at least some of the upper flanges, if provided, overlies one of the lower flanges, if provided.
Herein, except as the context may require otherwise, any reference to a stream bed is intended to encompass the bed of a natural stream, the bed of another natural waterway, such as a creek, river, or swale, or the bed of a manmade stream, such as a canal, culvert, channel, or ditch, whether the bed tends to be normally dry or tends to be normally filled with flowing water.
Herein, all directional terms including xe2x80x9cupperxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9clowerxe2x80x9d,xe2x80x9cupstreamxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cdownstreamxe2x80x9d are referred to a revetment placed in its intended orientation, in a stream bed, or oriented similarly.